RUSSIA LINKS: US PRESIDENT TRUMP’S SONINLAW UNDER FBI LENS
Jared Kushner, US president’s son-in-law, has come under scrutiny in the FBI’s probe into Russian interference in US elections and alleged collusion by Trump campaign aides, media reports said.
The reports made it clear Kushner had not been charged with anything or accused of any wrongdoing and that he was not a “target” of an investigation. The focus was on his meetings with Russians, said The Washington Post.
There are other people in Trump’s orbit who have had significant contacts with Russians as well, including one-time campaign manager Paul Manafort, a foreign policy adviser Carter Page and president’s first national security adviser Michael Flynn, who he fired later.
The new focus on Kushner brings the controversy closest yet to the first family — Kushner is married to Ivanka Trump — and the president, who appeared to be keen to ensure he remained in the clear, at the risk of throwing his aides under the bus.
When Kushner’s meetings with Russians were first reported, Kushner had said he was willing to testify before Congress.
Jamie Gorelich, one of his lawyers, told US media on Thursday, “He will do the same if he is contacted in connection with any other inquiry.”
Kushner’s first substantive meeting with Russians was in December when he received ambassador Sergey Kislyak at Trump Tower, which housed the president’s transition team. They were joined by Flynn.
At the next meeting, which was sought by Kislyak, Kushner didn’t go himself and sent a deputy to represent him.
But he did meet Sergey Gorkov, the head of Vnesheconombank, a state-owned Russian bank that had ties to the Kremlin.